Thank you Mike, and you are so right about friends here on CR. It's a very special folks and I'm glad to be part of thr family.I hope you will soon have a chance to meet Nate and his family again. They are like family for you and I know how much one appreciates to spend time together.

LOA, my dear, I'm so sorry to hear that your health problems are still pestering you. I have been suffering of migraines for a long time so I can relate to the way you must be feeling right now. I keep my fingers crossed that you will be back to par soon! I'm sending a big big hug!

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"Now here's my secret", said the fox, "it is very simple. It is only with ones heart that one can see clearly. What is essential is invisible to the eye."

("The Little Prince" by Antoine de Saint-Exupery)

"The soul would have no rainbow, if the eye had no tears."(Native American Proverb)

Hi All!!!! i seem ato be making it through the Holidays well..I hope I can take them in stride this year!!! And celebrate BIG!!My BF is planning on buying a BIG TREE next weekend.....I am psyched!!!!! I can decorate a REAL TREE!!!!I hope everyone is well!!!Marti

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]AN EXCERPT FROM A POEM THAT I WROTE ON 10/11/07

WE CAN'T CHANGE WHAT WE HAVE DONE....BUT ONLY TAKE A LESSON FROM EACH EXPERIENCEAND MAKE THE MOST OF EACH MINUTE THAT WE HAVE LEFTAND TELL OURELVES THAT IT IS OK TO LIVE, LAUGH AND CRY.....PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE ALL WORK TOGETHERTO GIVE US WHAT WE CAN AND SHOULD EXPERIENCEAND WE NEED TO CHERISH ALL OF THE TIMETHAT WE SPEND WITH OURSELVES AND OTHERS MAKING THE MOST OF THE SPECIAL MEMORIES THAT ARE OURS..AND THE ONES THAT WE HAVE YET TO CREATE WITH THE PEOPLE THAT WE HAVEN'T MET!!!!![/SIZE]

Ah, the smell of a real Christmas tree... makes the whole house so pleasant! We have an artifical tree but I'll make a wreath of pine boughs from the trees in our woods & bring that in for a similiar effect.

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"All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost;The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost.From the ashes a fire shall be woken, A light from the shadows shall spring;Renewed shall be blade that was broken, The crownless again shall be king..."

Received this in an email this morning. Wasn't sure where to put it. Hope it is O.K. to put it here.

Val

Important Read- NO KIDDING- How to Lock your car

Snopes approved.

I locked my car --- as I walked away I heard my car door unlock I went back and locked my car again three times. I looked around and there were two guys sitting in a car in the fire lane next to the store. When I looked straight at them they did not unlock my car again.

How to lock your car safely: While traveling my son stopped at a roadside park. He came out to his car less than 4-5 minutes later and found someone had gotten into his car, and stolen his cell phone, laptop computer, GPS navigator, briefcase.....you name it ...

Called the police and since there were no signs of his car being broken into- the police told him that there is a device that robbers are using now to clone your security code when you lock your doors on your car using your k ey-chain locking device..

They sit a distance away and watch for their next victim. They know you are going inside of the store, restaurant, or bat hroom and have a few minutes to steal and run.

The police officer said ...to be sure to manually lock your car door-by hitting the lock button inside the car, that way if there is someone sitting in a parking lot watching for their next victim it will not be you.

When you hit the lock button on your car upon exiting...it does not send the security code, but if you walk away and use the door lock on your key chain- it sends the code through the airwaves where it can be stolen, something totally new to us...and real ...

Be aware of this and please pass this note on..look how many times we all lock our doors with our keys...just to be sure we remembered to lock them....and bingo someone have our code...and whatever was in the car...can be gone.

Hello everyone!It has been way too long since I've visited my friends here. I am so glad to see so many of you are still here and to see so many new names as well!

I have been busy and just haven't been here to visit. I had to close my shop in September and am working on getting my website up to par. That takes a lot of time and surprisingly a lot of energy too. My husband had a motorcycle accident at about the same time I closed the store. He broke his leg and was on crutches for 3 months. After that ordeal was about finished he had surgery for carpel tunnel! I am so ready for him to be well again and get us back to some form of Normalcy!

the girls are doing so well in school. Maya, my 10 year old, made honor roll and is so bright I often wonder if she's really mine! Emily, (8), is also very bright, but not in the same ways as her sister. I can't imagine my life without them. They are the lights of my life!

I hope to get here more often and keep up with everyone!God bless you all and have a safe Christmas season!

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[color=red]"I've learned that whenever I decide something with an open heart, I usually make the right decision." Maya Angelou

Just makes me harken back to the days when no one locked their car. My parents never even locked the house either! (although I remember arriving home and 2 of our young neighbor boys were sitting on our couch, watching tv and eating our Cheezets! No harm though.)Letting kids roam free in the neighborhoods, riding my bike almost everyday to my friends house about 2 miles away........What have we done??

Oh my tis been ages since I've poked my head in isn't it? So much has changed. I'm now a mommy, to a bright little guy we named Cian Adrian Lachlan. He will be celebrating his 3mo. b-day on Monday. He's a big for such a little guy and what an eater! Can't keep enough bottles made!

Spending a quiet night tonight just listening in to Highlander Radio, wrapping presents and calming the wee one when he fusses. Busy season for me as always, band concert at Holy Hill just outside of Milwaukee on Sunday night, Yule gathering with friends on the Solstice, and all the shopping, work, and wrapping that needs to be done between now and then.

There goes the little one. Quiet only lasts so long this night it seems. Hope you all have a peaceful, and warm holiday season. I'll try not to be a stranger and visit more often.

-Senara

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Senara-ism : Life is like a theatrical production only you get to be actor, director, and audience all at once. So break a leg, sit back and enjoy the show!

"When the waves are high and the light is dying, raise a glass and think of me..." -Gaelic Storm

Cha chòir dòrn a thoirt an aghaidh pòig.A kiss ought not to be met with a fist.

Thig crioch air an saoghal, ach mairidh gaol is ceòl.The world will pass away, but love and music last forever.

Well I can see that I am not the only one who hasn't been in here for a while. As usual I have been busy. I recently moved. Building on our property is on hold. So we bought a home and now we are busy with the holiday and moving.

My daughter with MS is getting married May 2nd. We are so excited for her and with that again I will be very busy.

I am continuing to work my second job. Thank goodness I have it. My husband just avoided another round of lay offs from his company. I feel so bad for those who got laid off right before Christmas.

I am up so early because I am nursing a bad cold with a cough. I hope everyone else is doing good.

Oh my tis been ages since I've poked my head in isn't it? So much has changed. I'm now a mommy, to a bright little guy we named Cian Adrian Lachlan. He will be celebrating his 3mo. b-day on Monday. He's a big for such a little guy and what an eater! Can't keep enough bottles made!..

Ohh, how precious to celebrate Christmas with a new baby!! LOVE his name too.And be encouraged, darlin', they do eventually sleep all night.

Good to see you, Ballydun. Sorry to hear your husband has been thru so much lately, and here's a prayer that he'll return to health soon.

Today is our wedding anniversary and we celebrate 23 years of marriage been together 29. Yes, yes we lived for at least 6 years in sin but hey mortals are imperfect beings....lol...

I've seen many things in my short life but there was one that I dreamed of seeing for a long time and for some reason never had the chance or simply didn't take the time and it now my dream will come true this afternoon for my husband bought tickets for Les Grands Ballets Canadiens:The Nutcraker...I've never seen this ballet show before and I'm very excited and look forward to it even though that we will be in the worst of the snow storm...I would not miss it for sure.

And an odd thing too happened last night. I received this unusual phone call from "Mouvement Retrouvailles" which is an organization to help adopted children to trace their backgrounds...I subscribe many years ago and had only one phone call but last night the man I talked to said to me that now in Quebec I can call directly the social services and it is now a free service offered to those who are in search of their roots...hmmmm. Stuff to think about I guess.

LOA

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"Few men are brave:many become so through training and discipline."Flavius Vegetius Renatus

"I think a hero is an ordinary individual who finds strenght to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles."Christopher Reeve

Hello all. Been lurking around but I haven't had much time to log in for a while but with the weather I've got time today. It's snowing up here. Again. Actually it hasn't stopped snowing since it first started in October. I think we have had only two days of sun. All the big white fluffy stuff and no ice rain (sorry east coast but we get it every year). I don't think that I have ever seen this amount of snow up here and we always get alot of it. To give you an idea the 50 foot banks that are usually made from the plows in the KMart parking lot are usually there in Feb. They are already there! The wife and I are planning a busy travel day for Christmas. Two+ hour drive south to see the daughter on Christmas eve than back up to celebrate with father in law on Christmas day. Congrats on the baby Senara and on the anninversary to you Lady of A. Hope you both get some sleep though neither of you probably won't! Grewnlee-go to the drugstore-ask for Buckleys cough sryup. Taste like a pine flavored Halls cough drop but it does the trick.

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Unavoidably Detained by the World

"Irishness is not primary a question of birth or blood or language; it is the condition on being involved in the Irish situation, and usually of being mauled by it."-Conor Cruise O'Brien